Chapter 39

 

According to Elaine’s watch, it was now four-fifty p.m., so she figured that at any moment the plane would begin its descent towards the CDG airport.

Even though the flight from N’Djamena to Paris was only five and a half hours, it seemed like the longest plane ride Elaine had ever taken in her life. The fact that Raj was sitting so far away, beyond the curtains in business class, where she couldn’t observe him, drove her crazy. Staying constantly on guard, afraid that Raj might come to the rear of the plane to use the restroom again, only added to her stress.

The worst thing was the sat-phone—it just did not seem to work most of the time. The metal skin of the aircraft interfered too much and the signal was too weak. She thought Pamela had noticed her using it, despite the fact that she’d hidden it between the blanket and window and was discreet about it.

Elaine glanced at Pamela again—the woman was under her blanket, her eyes closed.

Elaine turned away to try and check the sat-phone again. She moved the device all around the window, but the signal indicator only showed one flashing bar, which meant the signal was barely detectable.

With some more moving around, the phone suddenly vibrated under her hand.

Two text messages had been received.

Elaine recognized both numbers—the first was from Nick, sent half an hour ago, and the other one was from Luna’s, sent about ten minutes ago.

Elaine tensed as she opened the first one.

CAT GOT AWAY. A LOCAL COP SHOWED UP AND I GOT TAZED. SORRY. UNFORTUNATELY CAT HAS A PHONE.

“Oh no,” Elaine gasped. Cattoretti would try to warn Raj...or maybe already had.

Pamela’s face appeared in the window reflection. “You’re not supposed to use cellphones on planes—don’t you know that?”

“It’s—it’s on silent,” Elaine said. “I’m just playing a game.”

“I saw you reading a text message!”

Now the man next to her leaned forward, looking at Elaine.

“Pamela, I’m not on the phone, okay?”

“But I saw you!”

“Look, it’s a sat-phone, not a cell phone—sat-phones are allowed.” This wasn’t true, of course, but she hoped Pamela bought it.

“Are you sure?” Now Pamela was peering down the aisle, as if she might summon a flight attendant to verify this. All the attendants were all up front at the moment.

Elaine quickly turned back to the window and opened the second message, the one from Luna.

WE’RE STUCK CIRCLING—I’M NOT SURE WE’LL LAND IN TIME FOR ME TO GO TO CUSTOMS AND MEET YOU AT THE GATE. TELL A FLIGHT ATTENDANT TO HAVE YOUR CAPTAIN CALL AHEAD AND ARRANGE FOR CUSTOMS OFFICERS TO MEET YOU AT THE GATE—I’LL BE THERE AS SOON AS I CAN. P.S. GOOD LUCK, BABY DOLL! DON’T LET HIM GET AWAY!

Elaine was reeling—everything was falling apart!

Pamela was looking over her shoulder, trying to see what she was doing. “If you don’t stop—”

“I’m not using it anymore,” Elaine snapped, and she made a point of opening her purse and putting the phone away. She looked angrily at Pamela. “Okay?”

The woman still looked suspicious. The man next to her looked a little wary, too, but put his head back against his seat and closed his eyes again.

The P.A. system clicked above. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve been cleared to make our final approach to Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Please put away your tray tables and put your seat backs in the upright position...”

Now’s the time, Elaine thought. Now!

She bent down and pulled her carry-on out from under the seat in front of her. She unzipped it and pulled out her toilet kit. She also opened the evidence envelope and withdrew the three fake Kimberly Certificates, folded them, and slipped them in her slacks pocket.

Pamela was watching her like a hawk.

“Excuse me,” Elaine said, “I need to use the toilet.”

“You can’t, we’re landing.”

“The seat belt light is off.”

At that second there was a bing—the seat belt lights came on.

“See?” Pamela said.

“I need to use the restroom,” Elaine said aggressively. The man next to Pamela was asleep, his head back, his mouth slightly open. Elaine reached across and touched his arm.

He opened his eyes and looked at her.

“I need to get up.”

Pamela was frowning, peering up the aisle in search of a flight attendant. The male attendant had just walked past from the rear and was collecting empty cans and cups from passengers.

“Excuse me!” Pamela called, but he didn’t hear her.

“Move!” Elaine said, “unless you want me to be sick all over both of you!”

The man unbuckled his seat belt.

Pamela didn’t move, so Elaine literally climbed over her, dragging the toilet kit with her.

Now the redheaded attendant was pulling open the curtains that separated business and economy class. She saw Elaine open the restroom door and headed in that direction.

Elaine quickly locked the door, opened her toilet kit, and started assembling her Sig Sauer.

 

* * *

“Madame, you must return to your seat!” the flight attendant yelled, banging on the door.

Elaine had only been in the restroom for about three minutes and was now madly removing the last of her makeup with the wipes, tossing the used ones in the trash one after another. She had already stuffed the wig and all the costume jewelry into the toilet kit. She took a couple of seconds to arrange her hair up on her head a little more neatly, made sure the Sig, now under her waistband, was covered by her blouse.

“Madame, if you do not return to your seat immediately I will have to alert the captain!”

“Okay, okay,” Elaine shouted, and she finally opened the door.

The redhead, Lucie, was frowning at her, eyeing her suspiciously. She glanced down at the toilet kit.

“I need to talk to you,” Elaine whispered, and motioned for her to step back into the galley.

Lucie did so, looking even more frustrated.

“Madame—”

“My name is Elaine Brogan and I work for the United States Secret Service.”

Lucie blinked, looking surprised.

Elaine motioned up the aisle. “There’s a man sitting up in business class, in seat Three-A, by the window, who has contraband he’s attempting to smuggle into France.”

“What kind of contraband?”

“Diamonds. Raw pink diamonds, about ten million euros worth.”

Lucie’s eyes widened.

“She’s a terrorist!” a female voice yelled.

Pamela was standing in the aisle, pointing at Elaine. “Her skin color changed! She was wearing a black wig! I saw her using some kind of weird phone!”

There were a few screams from the passengers, and now every head was turned towards them, at least in the rear half of the plane.

The redhead looked Elaine up and down, backing away, now apparently remembering the passenger that had been sitting in her seat and who looked completely different.

“I’m not a terrorist,” Elaine said, trying to stay calm. “I work for the U.S. Secret—”

Lucie turned away and took off up the aisle.

Elaine dropped the toilet kit and went after her, but before she had taken two steps she fell flat on her face—the male passenger sitting next to Pamela had stuck out his leg and tripped her.

Elaine scrambled back to her feet and took off again.

Now most of the passengers in the plane were watching and some of the people in business class had just noticed the redhead run past—she was heading towards the cockpit. Heads turned towards Elaine, but Raj did not turn around. His head was tilted to one side—he looked like he might have been asleep.

She rushed up to his row and stopped—Elaine had expected Lucie to go straight to the cockpit door and alert the pilots, but she was bent down, talking to a beefy man in a suit, who suddenly unfastened his seat belt and stood up.

Oh, no, Elaine thought—a sky marshal.

“He’s got illegal diamonds on him,” Elaine blurted, pointing to Raj.

Raj turned and looked at Elaine, and his eyes widened in astonishment.

The big man moved towards her, frowning. “What is your problem, Madame?” He was about thirty-five and had a rugged-looking face, his brown hair parted down the side.

She said, “I’m with the U.S. Secret Service, on undercover assignment.” She pointed to Raj again. “That man is trying to smuggle diamonds into France. Ten million euros worth.”

The sky marshal glanced at Raj, who was staring at Elaine as if she were crazy.

“Do you have any identification?”

Elaine hesitated. “I don’t, but I can show it to you as soon as we land—my people are going to meet us at the gate. You need to tell the pilot to alert Customs at CDG and have them waiting, too. Armed guards. This man is dangerous.”

The sky marshal looked at Raj.

Raj remained silent, his eyes still on Elaine. He shrugged at the sky marshal, staring at Elaine as if he were a little scared, but only because some nut, who was obviously out of her mind, was pointing a finger at him.

The flight attendants were now all clustered together up by the cockpit door, whispering to each other. One of them had picked up the wall intercom phone and was talking to the captain.

“You need to return to your seat,” the sky marshal said.

“We have to watch him,” Elaine said. “He might try to dump them.”

“Dump what?”

“The diamonds, I just told you!”

The sky marshal moved a little closer. “You need to return to your seat,” he repeated, and he discreetly pulled his jacket a little to the side, revealing a pistol

“No, you need to return to yours,” Elaine said, and she lifted her blouse, discretely showing her pistol.

There were a few gasps from the passengers.

“She’s a terrorist!” Pamela screamed from the rear of the plane. “She was wearing a disguise and talking on a strange phone! Her hair was black before!”

Now all the passengers were beginning to panic—children started crying, and so did a few adults.

The sky marshal took a step towards Elaine, and she backed away, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no passenger was going to attack her from behind, but everyone looked too scared to move.

“You need to watch him!” Elaine said, pointing to Raj, who wasn’t even looking back anymore, was just shaking his head again.

The sky marshal kept coming and Elaine kept backing up.

He pulled out a set of handcuffs.

Elaine drew her pistol. “Get back!”

There were more screams.

“If you really are a Secret Service agent,” the sky marshal said, “you will not shoot me.”

He was right, of course. Elaine kept the gun on him but continued to back away, glancing over her shoulder, moving through economy class towards the rear of the plane. Now it was descending rapidly—Elaine’s ears popped.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the captain’s voice boomed over the cockpit. “Please remain calm, there is nothing to worry about, everything is fine.”

The sky marshal kept coming at her.

Elaine kept backing away until she reached the rear restrooms.

“Stop!” Elaine said, as she backed into the galley. “You’re not going to cuff me! For god’s sake, man, tell the captain to call Customs! My colleague has probably already contacted them and can verify this! Or call them yourself! You have a phone, don’t you?”

The sky marshal looked down at the gun pointed at him, but he didn’t advance.

“She’s a terrorist!” Pamela screamed.

The sky marshal turned sharply towards her. “Shut up, Madame!”

There was an intercom phone on the wall beside Elaine. Without taking her eyes off the sky marshal, she grabbed it, brought it to her ear, then started randomly pushing buttons that she could only feel with her fingers.

“Put down the phone!” the sky marshal said.

Elaine blew into the receiver as she pushed the button until she heard the sound echo through the cabin.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she said, “I am NOT a terrorist. I’m with the United States Secret Service, and there’s nothing to worry ab—”

The flight attendants somehow cut her off.

Elaine kept pushing buttons until she heard a ringing sound.

Then: “Oui?”

“Is this the captain?”

“I am ze co-pilot.”

“This is Elaine Brogan, U.S. Secret Service—you have to call Customs at CDG and tell them there’s a man aboard this aircraft who’s trying to smuggle diamonds into France. They’ll verify who I am because my colleague is talking to them on the ground, or should be...”

 

* * *

The next ten minutes were excruciating. The sky marshal seemed barely satisfied keeping Elaine cornered in the rear galley of the airplane. She kept her pistol on him and he did not draw his own. Firing a gun aboard an airborne jet was extremely dangerous—a stray bullet could bring the whole aircraft down.

The landing gear was finally lowered and the plane slowed even more.

“You might want to sit down in the jump seat for landing,” the sky marshal said.

“I’m fine,” Elaine said, holding on to the handle of one of the stowed serving carts.

The intercom crackled. “Ladies and gentleman, this is the captain. We are about to land, and it’s extremely important that you remain seated until we safely escort the...the individual in the rear off of the plane. Please remain calm, stay seated, do not interfere.” He repeated the message twice in English and in French, and then one of the flight attendants repeated it in Arabic.

When the plane finally bumped down on the runway and slowed, Elaine said, “I’m not putting this gun down until I’m off the plane and face to face with Customs officers.”

The sky marshal didn’t respond.

The plane did not come to a full stop but veered off the runway. It taxied faster than normal, Elaine thought. She had been afraid they would just stop the aircraft on a taxiway and do an emergency evacuation while the sky marshal kept her cornered in the galley—she hoped this meant that Luna had gotten through to Customs and that they were waiting for her at the gate.

The plane finally slowed, turned, and came to a halt.

“Ladies and gentleman, please stay seated!” one flight attendant said over the intercom, while the redhead opened the door.

Two armed guards cautiously stepped onto the plane, both of them holding pistols, but they kept the weapons aimed at the floor.

The sky marshal began to back up the aisle, Elaine following, partially lowering her gun but ready to raise it again at an instant.

All eyes were on her as she passed by the passengers, row after row.

Just as they reached business class, the sky marshal raised his arm, indicating for her to stop.

“You,” he said, motioning to Raj. “Put your hands in the air.”

Raj frowned and spoke for the first time. “She’s completely crazy.”

“Put your hands in the air and get off the plane.”

Raj raised his arms high. “I need to unbuckle my seat belt...”

The two guards moved closer, watching him carefully, but still did not draw their guns.

Raj slowly unbuckled his seat belt and rose, then stepped out into the aisle, glaring at Elaine and shaking his head. He moved to the front of the plane, past the flight attendants, and one of the guards took him by the arm and moved him out the door.

“Get his carry-on,” Elaine said, nodding to his seat.

The sky marshal motioned to the other guard, who stepped down the aisle, leaned into the row where Raj was sitting, dragged the carry-on out from under the seat in front of Raj’s seat, and took it off the plane.

“Satisfied?” the sky marshal said, glancing down at the pistol in Elaine’s hand.

“I will be when I see a Customs agent.”

The sky marshal backed away, moving faster now, and reached the front of the plane. The cockpit door was still shut tight, the three flight attendants huddled around it.

The moment Elaine reached the threshold of the jetway, two guards grabbed her, one yanking the pistol from her hand.

They roughly pushed Elaine up against the jetway wall.

Raj was already standing up against the opposite wall, being searched from head to toe. Another man squatted in front of Raj’s carry-on bag, unzipping it.

“Spread your legs!” one of the guards snapped at Elaine, and the other began searching her. The sky marshal started going through her purse. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him pull out the sat-phone.

More men were trotting down the jetway towards them.

“Que se passe-t-il?” one asked.

Elaine was turned back around and found herself facing a man in slacks and a crisp navy blue shirt. He was a French customs officer, and a captain, she thought, from the striped insignia on his shoulders. Behind him were two heavily armed gendarmerie in light blue Kevlar vests, both with assault rifles slung over their shoulders and pistols and other gear on their belts.

Elaine desperately looked down the jetway for Luna, but she was nowhere in sight.

All the men quickly introduced each other in French. The customs officer was Captain Lemaire. He was a dark-haired man in his forties, with a lined face and keen brown eyes.

“This woman claims to be a Secret Service agent from the United States,” the sky marshal told him, then pointed to Raj. “She says he’s a diamond smuggler.”

“He’s clean,” the man searching Raj said. The guard had only found three items on him, a cell phone and a sat-phone, and some keys.

Raj lowered his arms as the other guard pronounced Elaine clean as well, stepping back from her. The third guard was still searching Raj’s suitcase using a flashlight but didn’t seem to be coming up with anything.

“This woman is off her rocker,” Raj muttered, looking at Elaine.

There were walkie-talkies crackling, blue lights flashing across the jetway windows—Elaine could see all kinds of emergency vehicles down on the tarmac, gathering around the aircraft. It was as if a terrorist attack had just been thwarted.

Captain Lemaire was studying the passports he’d been given.

“Jennifer Johnson,” he said, looking up at Elaine’s face and comparing it to the picture in the document.

“My real name is Elaine Brogan,” Elaine said, and looked back down the jetway, hoping to see some sign of Luna. “I’m using a false I.D. because I’ve been on an undercover assignment in Chad.”

The captain opened the other passport. “Vinod Patel,” he said, looking at Raj’s passport.

“That’s not my real name,” Raj said.

“The suitcase is clean,” another guard said in French, rising from Raj’s carry-on bag, which had been thoroughly tossed.

“It can’t be,” Elaine said. “He smuggled ten million euros worth of raw pink diamonds out of Chad.”

“Why is this not your real name?” the captain asked Raj.

“Because I work for the U.S. Secret Service, and I’ve been on an undercover assignment in Chad.”

The captain frowned, confused, looking back and forth between them.

“Elaine!”

She had never been so glad to hear Luna’s deep voice.

Luna and two more customs officers were jogging down the jetway.

“I can vouch for her,” Luna said, as she trotted up. She had to stop and take a breath—she must have jogged all the way through the huge airport. She pulled two folding I.D.’s with badges out of her pocket. “Luna Faye, U.S. Secret Service.” She handed him one of the badges, and Elaine recognized the wrinkled brown leather case. “She’s Elaine Brogan, also U.S. Secret Service, based in Marseille.” The captain briefly glanced at Luna, then at the two I.D.’s. One of the men who had arrived with Luna whispered something in the captain’s ear, and he nodded. He glanced at Elaine and Raj again, then looked at Luna, who was apparently the only one of them with a verified law enforcement identity. Luna was dressed in a sharp navy blue business suit and projected an air of authority.

“Would you explain what’s going on here, please, Ms. Faye?”

At that moment the Air France pilot pushed his way out the aircraft door, through the group of flight attendants that were watching. “My passengers have to deplane!” he said angrily in French.

“Just hold on,” Lemaire said, and he returned his gaze to Luna, waiting for her to answer.

Luna nodded to Raj and said, “We’ve been doing an undercover investigation of this man and believe he’s been smuggling diamonds out of Chad and into Europe for several years now—he also happens to work for the U.S. Secret Service. He’s the Director of our entire European Operations division.”

Lemaire’s mouth dropped open, and he looked at Raj. “Is that true?”

“Yes it’s true,” Raj said disgustedly. He reached towards his trousers. “May I show you my official I.D.?”

Lemaire nodded, and Raj slowly reached into his trousers, slipping his hand under his belt. One of the guards moved in, alarmed, but Raj raised his hand and said, “It’s just an I.D., relax.” He slowly withdrew a passport and a leather badge holder, on top of each other. He glared at Luna, and as he handed Lemaire the documents, he said, “Thank you so much for blowing my cover.”

As Lemaire looked at the I.D., Elaine began to panic. “That’s nonsense,” she said. “Do you really believe our Director of European Operations goes on undercover assignments?” Before Lemaire could answer, she pointed at the suitcase. “I’m telling you, there are diamonds in that suitcase! Either that or he hid them on the plane!”

One of the customs officers who had arrived with Luna squatted in front of the suitcase and started searching it again.

“Captain,” Raj said coolly, “I’m afraid this woman has serious mental problems.” He tapped on his temple. “She was dismissed from the Service two years ago and put in a psychiatric facility.” He looked at Elaine curiously. “How did you escape?”

“There are diamonds in that suitcase!” Elaine said, and she dropped down to her knees and started searching the suitcase herself, pushing the guard aside. “Does somebody have a box cutter?”

“I do suggest we search the suitcase thoroughly,” Luna told Lemaire.

He reluctantly nodded to one of the custom’s officers and he handed Elaine a box cutter. Elaine popped the blade open and began cutting through the lining, all the way around the bottom, ripping it up, the officer with the flashlight helping her inspect it.

The pilot pushed through again. “Damn it, my passengers have to deplane! Do you have any idea how much money this is costing us?”

“There’s nothing in the suitcase,” the customs man said, standing.

“There has to be!” Elaine said frantically, tossing through Raj’s clothes again.

“Ms. Brogan,” Lemaire said, turning to her.

With the exception of Luna, every one of the people around her gazed at her like she was nuts. “He had to have hidden them!”

“Maybe—” Luna began.

“They must be on the plane,” Elaine said, and she dashed around the air marshal and captain and went back inside the aircraft. Nearly knocking the redheaded flight attendant down, she turned and reached the aisle in business class.

“Stop!” the sky marshal yelled, but she was already thrusting herself over to the seat Raj had occupied. She searched underneath the seat in front of his, running her hands around it and up into the cushion, then looked underneath his seat, in the crack that separated it from the window...

Nothing.

“Come on,” the sky marshal said, trying to grab her arm. She could feel all the passengers and crew staring at her like she was a madwoman. She felt in the crack in the cushion between the seat and seat back, and pulled out something small.

A stone.

A tiny, pink stone.

“Look!” Elaine said, and showed it to the sky marshal. It was round and pinkish in color, hardly bigger than a piece of birdseed.

“Uh-huh,” he said, taking Elaine by the wrist. She was almost certain it was a tiny diamond or a fragment of one, but as the sky marshal pulled her out of the plane, she realized it could have just been a tiny piece of anything.

This did not stop her from shoving it under the Captain Lemaire’s nose as soon as she went back out into the jetway. “Look at this,” she said. “I’m telling you, this is a pink diamond. I don’t know what he did with the rest of them, but—”

“Ms. Brogan,” the man next to the captain said.

She ignored him and motioned to the sky marshal. “Did he use the restroom in the front of the plane, by any chance? It was out of order, but—”

“Ms. Brogan,” the man said again.

“What?” Now she realized they were all looking at her solemnly.

He held up her Secret Service I.D. “Your badge expired two years ago.”

Elaine swallowed.

There were some chuckles. The whole crowd gathered at the end of the jetway was now looking at her like she was deranged.

Raj sadly shook his head, gazing at Elaine, then looked at Luna. “How could you believe this nutcase? When I’m done with you, you won’t be able to get a job as a rent-a-cop.”

The air marshal took her by the arm, but Elaine turned to Lemaire, desperate. “Listen to me—your job is on the line here, too! Do you really believe the director of the entire European arm of the United States Secret Service goes on undercover assignments?” Before he could answer, she pointed to Raj and said, “Why didn’t he tell you that in the first place?”

Lemaire considered this, looking at Raj.

“I didn’t want my cover blown!” Raj said. It was the first time he lost his cool, but quickly recovered. He calmly continued, “Anyway, it wasn’t an ‘undercover assignment’—I was meeting with our people in Chad who are working on something big, and you know how corrupt that country is. I can’t go through that airport without everybody knowing it.”

Elaine was looking down at Raj’s trousers, and his shoes. “I think he’s got the diamonds on him.”

“We searched him,” Lemaire said.

“You missed his passport and his I.D.!”

Lemaire glanced at the guard who had frisked him.

“Do you have a body scanner?” Elaine said.

Raj flinched at this. It was just a slight twitch of the cheek, but she caught it, and she thought Lemaire did, too.

“We have one at security in this terminal,” Lemaire said.

The pilot shoved his head in between them, a phone in his hand. “I’ve got the director of the whole goddam airport on the line, on a conference call with the director of Air France operations! If you don’t let us—”

“D’accord, d’accord,” Lemaire said. He motioned to the man on his left. “Let’s clear out of here.”

 

* * *

A moment later, Captain Lemaire, Luna, Elaine and Raj were walking through the terminal, following the signs towards Passport Control. The sky marshal and the two customs agents were with them, along with the two heavily armed guards, who stayed on the outside, keeping an eye on Elaine and Raj. One of the customs agents rolled Raj’s suitcase along behind him.

The corridor was absolutely packed with weary passengers from other arriving flights, moving in a mass, all in a hurry to get home or catch a connecting flight—men, women, children, and a golf cart full of elderly people. The air was filled with non-stop flight announcements in French and in English over the P.A.

The group maintained a low profile—none of the guards or customs agents touched Elaine or Raj. No one said a word except Lemaire. He was on his phone, speaking rapidly in French, telling someone, probably his superior, that the situation had been diffused and was all just “some kind of misunderstanding,” explaining that no shots had been fired, no one was in any danger and that all the police that had accumulated around the aircraft should be dispersed.

As they walked along Elaine kept stealing glances at Raj. They were being led to the scanner at the security checkpoint just to make absolutely sure Raj was clean. Although he still kept his cool, he was definitely not happy about it. He may have been a big wig inside the U.S. Secret Service, but this wasn’t the United States. Here, he would be treated just like any other arriving passenger who might be carrying contraband.

Now, Elaine could see sweat forming along his brow. And she thought his tawny skin looked a little pale.

As they approached a pair of escalators leading down one level, she noticed him taking a few furtive glances ahead, then back at the guards who were on either side of them.

The escalator caused a small bottleneck of passengers.

Lemaire cut his phone conversation and pointed to a door to the left labeled AIRPORT PERSONNEL ONLY.

Just as the group veered in that direction, Raj snatched the pistol out of one of the guard’s holsters and sprinted forward into the crowd, plowing over a couple of passengers and leaping over a couple of others, landing butt-down on the sloping metal panel that separated the two escalators from each other.

“Arrêtez!” one of the guards yelled.

Elaine dove into the crowd after him, leaping over a woman Raj had knocked down and landed butt-down on the panel herself.

“Stop!” another guard screamed.

Raj had slid almost all the way to the bottom, and when he reached it, he deftly slapped the EMERGENCY STOP button just before he hit the floor.

“Halt!” a guard bellowed, and some of the passengers on the escalators lost their balance.

Elaine slid down the panel but lost her balance as she reached the bottom. Raj had already dashed ahead down the corridor, leaping past passengers and over suitcases.

When she reached the bottom, she fell sideways and tumbled onto the floor, but was up again in a split second.

“Elaine!” Luna yelled.

She glanced up the escalator and saw a pistol clattering down the panel, spinning. Elaine backtracked one step and barely caught it in her hand as it flew off the end.

“Arrêtez!” one of the guards screamed, trying to climb down the clogged, stalled escalator. Another one was clumsily trying to climb up onto the panel Elaine and Raj had just slid down, but weighted down with his rifle, Kevlar vest and other equipment it was difficult.

Elaine sprinted down the corridor after Raj, her pistol in one hand, dodging people and jumping over suitcases, trying to keep up with him.

She managed to grab her old Secret Service ID out of her pocket and held it up high. “Police!” she yelled. “Stop that man! Arrêtez cet homme!”

Raj turned the next corner in the corridor, knocking down an old lady and leaping over a kid in a stroller, before he disappeared.

Elaine veered to the left side of the corridor, which was a little clearer, jumping over suitcases and dodging passengers.

A woman screamed when she glimpsed Elaine’s pistol.

When Elaine turned the corner, Raj was already fifty feet ahead, moving towards a long moving walkway that was also clogged with people. He zigzagged towards the walkway, away from it, and then back towards it.

“Stop that man!” Elaine yelled, still holding her badge in the air. “Arrêtez cet homme!”

When Raj reached the moving walkway, Elaine couldn’t believe it—Raj actually leapt up onto the handrail and started running down it, slowing a little but maintaining perfect balance! She vaguely remembered that he was some kind of track and field star when he was a student at Princeton.

Elaine wasn’t about to try that. When she reached the end of the transport machine, she ran along the outside rail, managing to halfway keep up with him. She saw Raj leap back to the floor at the end of the moving sidewalk. He stumbled and almost fell over a couple of nuns, but regained his footing and dashed ahead, glancing over his shoulder.

Far behind her, she could still hear the shouts of the guards chasing them, but they had only just now reached the other end of the corridor.

Elaine had never run so fast in her life. She lost one of her sandals, and slowing only for a second, she kicked off the other one and kept going. Fueled by adrenaline and desperation, she didn’t even feel the floor flying past her, underneath her bare feet.

Up ahead was Passport Control.

Surely he couldn’t get through that secure area! The police would have called ahead by now.

She streaked into the huge room, scanning for Raj. There were hundreds of passengers standing in the snaking, cordoned off cues.

She spotted Raj instantly, sprinting down a narrow middle corridor that led directly down to the passport control booths but was monitored by a security guard. The guard, a woman, was just getting up off the floor—apparently Raj had flattened her.

“Stop that man!” Elaine wheezed. “Police!”

Raj had just reached the checkpoint booths. He was moving so fast that nobody had a chance to prepare. A man and woman, who had just been cleared, were stepping through one of the electronically locking doors, and Raj slammed into them. The three of them went through the door, the male guard in the booth looking baffled.

The door shut again as Elaine reached it, and she banged into it with her shoulder.

“Open this door!” she screamed, slapping her badge up against the window.

The surprised guard looked uncertain about what to do.

“I’m ordering you to open it!”

He finally pressed the switch.

Elaine burst through the door and sprinted ahead, vaguely aware of two guards who had just figured out what was going on and started chasing after her. They, too, were bogged down with equipment—no one was going to fire a shot inside this building, Elaine thought, not with the throngs of innocent people everywhere.

Raj was still far ahead, and she glimpsed him, as he continued to run at full speed, yank off his tie and toss it aside. He also shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it aside, too.

He reached the baggage claim area and disappeared down the steps.

When Elaine entered, he was already halfway across the room, running alongside one of the unused baggage carousels, with a clear shot at the GREEN LINE—NOTHING TO DECLARE exit.

Is he really going to get away from me here in the goddamn Charles de Gaulle airport, after I’ve faced Janjaweed and leopards and crocodiles?

No way!

Elaine leapt cleanly over a baby stroller, not missing a beat, and streaked after him. Raj rounded the end of the carousel and headed towards the GREEN LINE. Just ahead of him were two beefy-looking young men who looked like soldiers or athletes who were pushing a big pile of suitcases on a couple of carts.

“Stop that man!” Elaine cried at the top of her burning lungs. “Stop him guys!”

The two men turned around just as Raj bore down on them.

One of the men glanced at Elaine, saw her badge, and reached out to try and grab him.

Raj easily dodged his hand and shot down the GREEN LINE corridor, knocking down an elderly man, his cane rattled across the tile floor.

The hallway turned and led out to the lobby.

At the end, there was a steel security fence that somebody had the brains to lower—it was about halfway closed, moving steadily down towards the floor.

When Raj reached it, he fell to his knees and slid right underneath it, like a baseball player sliding home.

When Elaine reached it, there was less than two feet of clearance. She hit the floor, rolled underneath it, and barely cleared it before it banged shut.

She lost the grip on her pistol and it went spinning across the floor, stopping in front of a young woman holding a baby carriage. The girl screamed as Elaine snatched it off the floor and continued after Raj, who was now heading towards the doors that led outside.

There were two big guards right outside the doors, but they were watching the driveway, their backs to the lobby.

“Stop him!” Elaine screamed. “Arrêtez cet homme!”

They couldn’t even hear her over the sound of the crowd, the P.A. announcements, and the traffic outside.

As Raj approached the automatic doors, they slid open for a young couple who was exiting, rolling their bags behind them.

“Arrêtez cet homme!” Elaine yelled again, raising her badge in the air. “Police!”

The guards turned around just as Raj flew past them, knocking the young man out of the way. Both guards raised their rifles, looking confused, and Elaine flew past them out the door, flashing her badge in their faces. One of them yelled “Arrêt!”

Elaine was stunned—nobody at this damn airport was even coming close to stopping the son-of-bitch! Raj had run all the way through the airport completely unchecked. He was simply moving too fast and nobody was prepared. By the time security had figured out what was happening, it was too late.

Raj sprinted across the roadway towards the parking lots. There was heavy traffic along it, taxis and cars stopping for passengers at crosswalks that were coming in from the parking areas, wheeling luggage.

Raj’s path was blocked by a sedan, but no problem. He leapt up and clambered across the hood and hit the pavement again without missing a step, the car in the next lane slamming on his brakes to avoid hitting him.

“Stop!” Elaine yelled, veering behind the sedan, almost smashing headlong into the car that had braked for Raj. She picked up speed again but Raj had already disappeared down a set of stairs that led into the short-term parking garage. Behind Elaine, two guards were yelling, and also giving chase, but they were still crossing the roadway.

Elaine reached the steps and dashed down them, taking them two at a time, the pistol still in one hand and her badge in the other.

There were flights leading down several levels, and when she reached the second turn, she saw Raj leap over a concrete wall.

When she reached the wall and looked over it, he was getting up off the ground—he had jumped down to the next garage level.

“Stop!” Elaine yelled, clicking off her pistol’s safety.

Raj stumbled, glancing up at her, hesitating.

“I’ll shoot!”

There were three teenage girls walking towards the steps, and one of them screamed.

Raj turned and ran off, disappearing into the garage.

Elaine looked down—my god, she thought, the drop has got to be twenty feet and I’m barefoot!

In a split second, she spotted a plastic dumpster just a little distance away. She slipped the pistol under her waistband as she climbed up onto the concrete wall, mustered up her courage...and jumped.

She crashed into the top of the dumpster, knocking it sideways. She landed partially on her feet, on the concrete, and felt something snap in her left ankle.

“Arrêt!” a voice boomed—the guards had just reached the wall she’d jumped from, and were looking down at her, aiming their rifles at her.

“I’m the police!” Elaine said, and she picked up the badge and flashed it at them, then jumped up off the ground, almost unaware of the pain in her ankle.

She ran into the parking garage, down a long row of cars, searching for Raj...and spotted him outside, in the uncovered parking area, sprinting towards the far end of the lot.

Elaine gave chase, pulling out her pistol as she ran at top speed. I’m running on a broken ankle, she thought, and I don’t even feel it.

Raj ran up to a car that was moving slowly through the lot, and he banged on the driver’s window with his pistol. Instead of stopping, the car lurched forward, the woman behind the wheel looking terrified. She swerved and almost hit Elaine.

Raj glanced over his shoulder at her and continued to run, looking exhausted himself. He dashed straight to the end of the lot, which was cordoned off by a chain link fence, on the other side of which was another parking lot.

Just as he reached the fence, he put the gun in his trousers and started to climb it.

“Stop!” Elaine yelled.

His shoe slipped out of the chain link and he dropped back down to the ground, glancing over his shoulder. When he saw Elaine running at him he whipped out his gun and then disappeared behind a van, the last vehicle in the row.

“Arrêt!” the guards were yelling in the distance—they had come down the stairs, and it had slowed them down.

Elaine stayed close to the opposite side of the van, stopping with her bare feet just behind the rear wheel. Now more aware of the pain in her ankle, she squatted down, glancing to the front and rear of the vehicle, then peered underneath, around the tire, to see if she could see his feet.

She heard a scuff to the left.

When she sprang back up and raised her gun, she found herself looking straight at Raj Malik, then down his gun barrel.

They both fired at the same time.

Elaine felt like someone had swung a sledgehammer into her shoulder. She spun around and landed flat on her back, the night sky spinning overhead.

She tried to raise herself up off the concrete, blood spurting from somewhere underneath her collar bone, thinking, Am I going to die? and she saw Raj lying on his back, coughing up blood. His pistol was on the pavement, just inches from his finger. Holding the blood-spurting wound in her shoulder, she crawled towards him and knocked the pistol away.

“Freeze!” one of the guards said from behind her.

Elaine barely heard him—Raj was staring up at the sky, his whole body convulsing. The bullet she’d fired had hit him in the stomach. Raising herself up enough to reach him, she pressed down on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

Raj coughed again, splattering blood, droplets hitting Elaine’s face.

“Help him!” she screamed, and now the two of them were being surrounded by more guards and airport security personnel.

Luna appeared at her side, her hand on Elaine’s back. “My god, you’ve been hit—somebody call an ambulance!”

Elaine could not take her eyes off Raj’s face. He coughed up blood again, his eyes still open, and then he began to convulse again and turned his head sideways, his mouth open...he looked like he was gagging or choking to death on his own blood!

Then something bright yellow sprang up in his mouth...and it grew in size, sticking out hideously between his lips.

To Elaine’s horror, he reached up and grabbed hold of it...and pulled a long, crooked, slimy yellow tube from his throat, gagging...

“Jesus!” Luna gasped, some of the guards stepping back.

Elaine realized it was a rubber tube or balloon of some type, and that all the diamonds were packed inside it in a long row...

He’d swallowed them on the plane.

Elaine passed out.